Page 8 - HGS Suburb News 138 - Spring 2019

Triumph for the Archer Academy
Every year Welwyn Garden City
holds a Youth Drama Festival
featuring groups from Hertford- performed each night before a
shire and its adjoining counties. panel of expert judges. Congratulations to the whole
This year, their 75th anniversary,
it took place from March 4 to 9 ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ by
at the Barn Theatre. Eighteen
Brookland School at Fellowship
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Mental Health, Gardening...
different drama groups entered up winning first place and an and a Seed Swap
with three short one-act plays additional technical award for
all aspects of their performance.
The Archer Players featured cast for their hard work and to
their drama director, Anja Rodford.
William Shakespeare. They ended TONY BRAND
Fellowship House was packed outside and close to nature, and our intensely private and
on the evening of March 7 for a how allotments help with sometimes difficult to access
joint initiative of the HGS loneliness. Gardeners are more internal world, as well as
Horticultural Society and the aware of weather and seasons, controlling and understanding
Allotments Committee. It started such as noticing the first butterflies our external worlds.
with a very interesting and or cuckoo, or identifying the An interesting Q and A
informative conversation between many different birdsongs. session followed with several
Jenifer Wakelyn and Chris Page, They both made interesting members of the audience
both doctors who are gardeners connections between gardening talking movingly about the
living in the Suburb, on The and mental health, drawing from importance of playing outside
roots to mental health, why a range of different theoretical when they were young; how
gardening is good for you. perspectives, history, nature, children are fascinated by
Jenifer started by talking medicine, psychology and nature and enjoy gardens, but
about her work with children in encouraged us to think privately sometimes appear disinterested
during adolescent years; how
care and the importance of play. about our love of gardening
She described how gardening and how it helps us in our the original love of nature can
has a long history of helping everyday lives. reappear later in life.
with depression, anxiety and Jenifer explained how ‘playing’ The Seed Swap itself was a
other mental illnesses. Chris in the garden is inherently terrific success with four long
added that recent studies show creative and expressive. It helps tables heaving with an enormous
TONY BRAND
that physical, mental and social us in life through the selection of vegetable seeds,
health improve with being constructive dialogue between perennials, annuals and some
seedlings. Everyone behaved
Annemount Head themselves, with no sharp elbows!
Many allotmenteers were
celebrates 25th year delighted that Terry Rand had
brought along a supply of his St
On April 4, Hampstead Garden George and Cobra runner bean
Suburb seniors were entertained Annemount School has only seeds, and Caroline Broome had
at Fellowship House by Year 2 ever had two heads. The first, dozens of Thompson and Morgan
pupils from Brookland School Miss Jamaiker, was there from vegetable and flowers seeds.
performing a selection of dances 1936 to 1993, when Geraldine Diane Berger and her team
and songs with members of the Maidment (right) took over after looked after us with refreshments,
audience sometimes joining in. Miss Jamaiker’s death. and it was heartening to see such
It was a delightful afternoon Geraldine is celebrating 25 a large turn out of both Horticultural
with a group of dedicated six years at the school and has asked Society and Allotment Committee
and seven year old boys and Suburb News to make it known members and residents. It was a
girls making a big effort for the that the school is inviting families wonderful evening, with pockets
local community. with links to it to share their full of seeds to sow, and no money
Congratulations and thanks memories by e-mailing the school was exchanged at any stage!
to all of them and their teacher. at headteacher@annemount.co.uk. Many thanks to all involved,
TONY BRAND TERRY BROOKS especially Jenifer and Chris.
Letters to the Editor
10 Waterlow Court Finally, after 26 years of which don’t allow for the bins Dear Sir
Monday, February 4 collecting our bins from the rear of to be moved can be magically As I mentioned in a question at the
our site along a back alley, which overcome by the application RA Council meeting on Tuesday
Dear Sir entails a slope and right angle of money. evening, April 2, it is an offence in
I cannot begin to describe the bend, to pick up in the car park of Councillor Rohit Grover sent law to blow garden waste from
waste of time and effort, and sheer the adjacent block of flats in the following statement to your private property onto public
frustration over at least five long Corringway, the Council’s Assistant Suburb News: property. Private contractors should
weeks in trying to get the Council Director decreed that this constituted “We acknowledge the difficulties be informed by the owners of the
to respond to their failure to collect a Health & Safety concern and residents of Waterlow Court face property they must dispose of any
the four large paladins and ten could no longer be countenanced: as a result of this re-organisation garden waste by collecting the
recycling bins from Waterlow Court. we would have to bring the bins and will work with them in order garden waste material and taking
Firstly, the new crew had no down ourselves (we have no porter) to find a satisfactory resolution. it to the nearest public dump. If the
idea we existed and had not been or pay for a special collection: the We are meeting with the Chairman owners of the property allow their
briefed at all on how to access additional cost – over and above of the Environment Committee contractors to blow waste into the
Waterlow Court from the rear. our 54 individual council tax and the Assistant Director of Street road, or onto the pavement, they
Then, a missed bin collection contributions – an insupportable Scene at the site next week in order are then breaking the law.
cannot be logged on the website for five figure sum! to examine options.” Yours
blocks with more than 10 flats; a While I appreciate councils have Mr T F Youlden
telephone call has to be made to a been severely constrained financially
number on which no message can by this government, we are all
be left & no-one answers, as it has being made to pay for the lack of P R HARTLEY
a pre-recorded message. So how what should be a cost-effective
would they ever know about a and efficient public service.
problem? Clearly they prefer not to Yours CHARTERED ACCOUNTANT
know. A Kafkaesque situation. Alexandra Rook & REGISTERED AUDITOR
Secondly, while willing to report
a complaint on our behalf, our Accounting & Taxation Services
ward councillors appeared impotent Suburb News decided to look
to actually make anything happen, further into the circumstances
or hold their officers to account. and forwarded this letter to Call 020 8731 9745 or 07850 634395
Our excellent constituency MP the three HGS ward councillors Email paul@prhartley.co.uk
also tried and was fobbed off with and our MP for comment. www.prhartley.co.uk
a misleading e-mail that failed to It’s interesting to note that
remedy matters. the Health and Safety concerns
1 22/07/2015 15:11:23